A.—No. G.

they are intended to expira, I am unable to view them as wholly satisfactory, and also because I think it may prove advisable to obviate by a formal disallowuuce hereafter, that doubt respecting their legal duration to which I have already adverted. I have, &c, Governor Sir George Grey, X.C.8., Edward Cardwbll. &c, &c, &c.

No. 23. (No. 26.) Dowiiing-street, 26th April, 1865. Sir, — I have received your despatches noted in the margin, giving an account of the attack made by the rebel Natives upon the Camp at Nukumaru, aud the repulse of that attack by Brigadier General Waddy and the force uuder his command. I regret that this atlack has been the occasion of so considerable a loss as that reported by Brigadier General Waddy, but trust that the lesson thus given to the rebels will have produced a salutary effect, aud will have tended to discourage further efforts on tlieir part. I am under the disadvantage of not having received the report you led me to expect, upon the military and financial plans of your advisers, nor any explanation of the discrepancy between your views and those o/ General Cameron, to which I adverted in my last despatch. On the contrary, this discrepancy, still unexplained, has now become more apparent. General Cameron forwards to the Secretary of State for War, a copy of a letter addressed to yourself, in which he says:—"l would, therefore, recommend that your Excellency should apply by the first opportunity for a reinforcement of at least 2000 men, if, in addition to the occupation of the country between Wanganui and the Patea, the road between Taranaki and Wanganui is to be opened, and more land to be confiscated, and occupied north of the Watara, whiob, I understand to be the plan of the Colonial Government, approved by your Excellency." Your own despatches, on the contrary, lead me to conclude that the war in Waikato is at an end, and that the general feeling of the Natives is accurately represented by Colonel Greer in the following words :—" The fact is, the eyes of all Maoridono are on Taranaki; that is, the the head quarters of their ' Atua,' or God; and if he cannot drive the Pukehas into the sea there, I think they will give up as a bad bargain all over this side of the Island." You do not lead me to entertain any doubt that all your measures at and near Taranaki are taken in subordination to the general, policy of your present advisers, viz., the earliest possible withdrawal from the Colony of the whole of He Majesty's Troops. You have already leaint from me, and I wish you to understand beyond all possibility of mistake, that if—l use the words addressed by General Cameron to Lord de Grey—"the objects contemplated by the Governor and the Colonial Government" involve a reinforcement of the force now under General Cameron's command, or "the protection by Imperial Troops of the different settlements, or the occupation of land taken from the rebels " —these objects are not approved by Her Majesty's Government, and will uot be carried into effect by au Imperial Force, You are expected to include in the land taken for settlement no greater an extent than you are prepared tc defend with a Colonial Force, and to undertake no operations of any kind, whether in the formation of roads, the extenlion of settlements, or otherwise, which will render more distant the time at which the Troops of Her Majesty can be withdrawn from the Colony. I understand these instructions to be in perfect accordance with the views of your advisers, sincerely entertained, and openly professed by them, aud formally accepted by the Assembly. They are the instructions which, on the part of Her Majesty's Government, I convey to you. If, after this, any extention of settlement shall be adopted in the Colony, which is beyond the limits of reasonable security, and if disastrous consequences shall result, it will be evident to the Colonists that these consequences have followed from measures adopted by themselves—with ample warning of the views aud intentions of the Home Government—after the fullest expression on their own part of their concurrence in those views and intentions, aud after the allowance of a suffioient latitude in point of time to render the withdrawal of the Troops safe and right. I request that in fixing your boundaries, and determining upon the measures to be pursued in future, you will bring these observations fully under the consideration of your advisers, and point out to them the serious responsibility which will attach to their decisions. It is necessary that I should again remind you, that the Estimates submitted to the Imperial Parliament, have been framed upon the understanding that the arrangement contemplated in the correspondence between this department and the lute Colonial Treasurer, will be carried into effect as regards the Colonial contribution, for auy troops of Her Majesty retained in the Colony after the Ist January of this year, and that I am expecting to receive the report on this subject to which I have above referred. The Secretary of State for War will send no reinforcements to General Cameron, Lut will repeat the instructions already given for the withdrawal of five regiments with as little delay as

No. 22, Feb. 6, '65 " 24, » ' " 25, " 7, " 26, " " " 27, " 8,

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TO HIS EXCELLENCY SIR GEORGE GREI, K,C.B.